12 Days of Christmas Day 1 Christmas Card Box

Hello, and welcome to my annual 12 Days of Christmas ideas posts. I look forward to sharing with you 12 different, easy DIY ideas for the holidays. 

This year I have decided to use Funky Junk's Old Sign Stencils on ALL 12 projects.

Why you ask? No, I am not being paid to (although I do receive free product for sharing stencil ideas with you). No, Donna, the owner of Old Sign Stencils did not ask me to. No I am not being lazy by using the same thing. The reason why is, is I really do LOVE these stencils. I also want the ideas to be EASY and DOABLE and stencils make that possible. I want to share with you how creative you can be with a simple stencil. 

I also THINK I plan on using just two stencils on all 12 projects to show you how versatile they can be.  

The Christmas Countdown BINGO

and the Christmas Crates stencils.

Please note--the prices you see are in Canadian and convert to less in US dollars.

Also, once you see ALL the things you can do, you will see what a great value they are!

So, now that we have the intro to my 12 Days of Christmas, let's get on to the first project--a Christmas card holder or box.

I started with a simple wood box from the thrift store. Mine was a Lane Cedar box, but the thrift store is full of small wood jewelry boxes or large wood recipe boxes. I painted mine red. I love red and white for Christmas, but when you mix the tow you get pink, which I have seen on a lot of crafter's projects. To avoid this, distress and clear coat the red BEFORE adding the white paint.

I used the Christmas Crates stencil to add a few mail inspired images. I wrapped the Merry Christmas around the edge.

Finish with a clear coat and you have a perfect place to put Christmas cards. It is fun to keep this on a coffee table for your family to enjoy. 

The stenciled box would also be fun filled with old Christmas photos or special Christmas candies or use it for a centerpiece arrangement.